title: Stroke, disability, and unconscious bias: interrelationships and over-determination in medical decisions.
abstract: Many factors influence what and how we communicate with patients after stroke. As physicians, we have a responsibility to examine our medical decisions and prognostication regarding each stroke patient. We must understand how many factors come into play in decisions regarding care, including perspectives that reflect the specific training of physicians in various specialties. How the physician responds to the patient with a stroke is highly individual. The more familiar the physician is with stroke recovery and the more time he or she has for individualized and less automatic approaches, the less likely decisions will be reflexive, based on bias. By examining our unconscious biases, we can provide individualized care that gives patients more latitude to create their own stories of recovery.
authors.affiliation: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Napa/Solano Service Area, Northern California Kaiser Permanente, Vallejo, California, USA.
authors.forename: M Elizabeth
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Sandel
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D003142:Communication; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D020521:Stroke / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology